This Spring the catching job is wide open for the Colorado Rockies. The Rockies would like rookie Chris Iannetta to win the job, but veterans Yorvit Torrealba and Javier Lopez will have something to say about that before the season starts. Iannetta is a 23 year old that tore up the minors last season with his bat. He hit .336 combined between AA+AAA with 14 homers and 48 RBIs in only 307 at bats. He then came up to the Rockies and hit .260 with a .760 OPS over 77 at bats. He needs a little work on his defense as he allowed 2 passed balls in 191.2 innings behind the plate. He also only threw out 14% of the runners that tried to steal on him….it could be that he was just nervous.

28 year old Yorvit Torrealba could beat out Iannetta because he’s a good defensive catcher with power. He hit .247 last season with a .732 OPS. He hit 7 homers and knocked in 43 runs in only 223 at bats which projects to good numbers if he can stay healthy. He had shoulder problems last year but you would never know it by watching him throw the ball. Yorvit threw out 34% of the runners that tried to steal on him last season. Torrealba made 5 errors and had 4 passed balls last season which are numbers he could improve on.

36 year old Javier Lopez has signed on to compete for the starting job after having his worst season in a long time. He only hit .251 with a .683 OPS. He only hit 8 homers and knocked in only 35 runs in 342 at bats between the Baltimore Orioles and Boston Red Sox. in 2004-2005, Lopez hit a combined .301 with an average of 19 homers and 67.5 RBIs so its possible that he could have a bounce back season. Coors Field could bring back his power. Lopez only threw out 6% of the runners that tried to steal on him but he didn’t make an error last season.

25 year old Alvin Colina will likely be waiting for his chance in AAA ball. Colina hit .254 with a .729 OPS in AAA last season with 12 homers and 46 RBIs. He also got 1 hit in 5 at bats (.200 avg) for the Rockies last season.

32 year old Geronimo Gil has been signed to a minor-league contract. He was awesome in the Mexican League (equal to AAA) as he hit .387 with 12 homers and 71 RBIs in only 310 at bats. He also had an amazing OPS of 1.057! For his major league career, Gil is a .233 hitter with a .620 OPS. He is a very long shot to make the Rockies.